Method for loading a shot shell



May 20, 1969 F. A. LAGE 3,444,777

METHOD FOR LOADING A SHOT SHELL Filed March 20, 1967 Sheet I of 2 01,51 m h/HAM AII'OIP/l/EYS 7 May 20, 1969 F. A. LAGE 3,444,777

METHOD FOR LOADING A SHOT SHELL Filed March 20, 1967 Sheet 2 of 2 United States Patent Ofiice 3,444,777 Patented May 20, 1969 Int. Cl. F42b 33/02, 7/08 US. CI. 86-23 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The method for loading a shotgun shell including powder, an elongated wad of expanded plastic secured to a sleeve element holding shot shell wherein the elongated wad of expanded plastic is subjected to a compressive force through the quantity of shot sufficient to reduce the overall length of the components in the shot shell casing such that the outer end of the casing may be closed onto the shot. In one embodiment, the elongated wad of expanded plastic is on the shot side of the sleeve and in the second embodiment the elongated wad of expanded plastic is on the powder side of the sleeve opposite the shot. The sleeve and wad of elongated plastic are the same for all shot shell loading operations regardless of the quantity of shot to be loaded.

This is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending application, Ser. No. 443,480 filed Mar. 29, 1965 now Patent No. 3,309,994 entitled Shot Shell and Method of Loading Same.

The common practice in loading shotgun shells is to select a wad of non-resilient material having the length which combined with the column of shot will fill the interior of the shell casing. Depending on the pattern desired in shooting the quantity of shot will be varied and thus under conventional practices a different length of wad is required. Also, sometimes the length of the shell will vary and thus require a different length wad to fill out the interior of the shell casing. Furthermore, conventional loading practices do not provide the efiiciency and accuracy in assembling the components that is desired.

The shot shell and method of loading the shot shell of this invention provides a universal sleeve and wad of elongated expanded plastic which may be used in any loading operation regardless of the quantity of shot being used or the length of the shell casing because the eX- panded plastic will compress as much as is required to close the end of the shot shell casing. Accordingly, only one inner sleeve and shot wad having expanded plastic is required for all loading operations thus obviously greatly simplifying the loading of shot shells. In applicant's first embodiment the wad of expanded plastic is placed on the side of the shot in the sleeve and in the second embodiment the expanded plastic wad is placed on the powder side of the sleeve opposite the shot. In either case, the shot sleeve is preassembled with the wad of expanded plastic and thus may be easily dropped into the shot shell casing. An annular groove on the inner bottom end of one of the sleeve portions is provided for gripping the adjacent end of the wad of expanded plastic or a non resilient disc element secured to the plastic to hold the elongated wad of plastic in the sleeve portion. On the exterior of the sleeve an annular groove is pro vided which serves to seal the interior of the casing against gas transfer.

This invention includes other improvements in the shot sleeve concerning elongated serrations around the periphery thereof and a series of elongated ribs and grooves which have been more fully covered in applicants copending application identified above.

Preferably, the expanded plastic is of the foam type as it has the best mechanical properties for use in a shot shell loading operation and under shooting conditions.

These and other features and advantages of this invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following description when taken into consideration with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are similar views illustrating in crosssection the construction of shot shells having different quantities of shot but employing the same shot protector sleeve and wad unit;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating in further detail the base end of the shot shell;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the shot well;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of only the shot protector sleeve and wad unit taken along line 55 in FIG. 4 on a reduced scale;

FIG. 6 is a right end view of the shot protector sleeve and wad unit of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation fragmentary view of an alternate embodiment this invention wherein the wad of expanded plastic is on the powder side of the sleeve;

FIG. 8 is a side elevation view similar to FIG. 7 but showing a substantially larger quantity of shot being loaded and consequently the expanded plastic having been compressed to compensate for this difference in shot quantity;

FIG. 9 is a side elevational fragmentary cross-sectional view of the shot sleeve with the wad of expanded plastic secured in one of the sleeve portions;

FIG. 10 is an exploded view of the shot shell and its component parts prior to being assembled; and

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary cross-sectional side elevation view of the shot sleeve similar to FIG. 9 but showing a non resilient disc element secured tothe elongated Wad of expanded plastic which in turn is held in a sleeve portion on the sleeve unit.

An embodiment of this invention as illustrated in the drawings is generally referred to in FIG. 1 by the reference numeral 10 and is shown in FIG. 4 to include four basic components, a shot shell casing 12, powder 14, a shell protector sleeve and wad unit 16, and the shot shell 18.

The shell casing 12 includes a primer 20 in a metal base cup 22. A support element 24 seats against the inner surface of the metal cup 22 and embraces the primer 20. An annular sealing element 26 is seated against the top surface of the support element 24 and the powder 14 is positioned against the inner surfaces of the primer 20, the support element 24 and the sealing element 26 as seen in FIG. 3.

The shot protector sleeve and wad unit 16 includes a sleeve 28 having a first cup chamber 30 for receiving the powder 14 and a second cup chamber 32 on the opposite side of a common bottom base wall 34 for supporting engagement with the inner end of a wad element 36. The powder cup portion 30 is defined by an annular side wall having an outwardly tapering inner surface 38 for concentration of the explosive forces of the powder 14 against the bottom base wall 34 and accordingly through the shot shell 10 to the shot 18. An annular groove 40 is provided on the external surface of the protector sleeve 28 in the area of the bottom base wall 34 and serves to seal the casing 12 against the passage of the powder gases from the powder chamber 30. An annular shoulder 41 forms one side of the groove 40. The wad chamber 32 is defined by a cylindrical sleeve portion 42 having 'a side Wall which is uniformly tapered in thickness outwardly of the bottom base Wall 34. The added thickness of the side wall of the sleeve portion 42 adjacent the base wall 34 gives the shot protector sleeve additional strength in the area where the greatest stresses are concentrated during firing. Around the exterior of sleeve portion 42, longitudinal ribs 44 and grooves 45 are formed to reduce friction in the gun barrel and thereby increase shot velocity while decreasing breech pressures. The side wall of portion 42 is provided with uniformly spaced apart longitudinal serrations 48 extending three quarters the full length of the portion 42 from the outer end thereof. The wad 36 is shown to have a disc element 50 secured to its outer end by adhesive 52 to prevent the shot 18 from denting the filler wad material.

The filler wad 36 disposed in the chamber 32 of the sleeve 16 is formed from an expanded plastic material. The material illustrated is a foam of polystyrene. Polystyrene foam of this type consists of many tiny non-interconnected cells. These foams have low densities, and low thermal conductivity and good structural strength. Polystyrene foam of the type employed in this invention may be obtained from the Dow Chemical Company under the name Styrofoam. The mechanical properties for expanded polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) are as follows:

Density, lb./cu. ft.

(M; in. x in. section) The foamed plastic used for the wad 36 having a low density may accordingly be readily compressed to whatever length desired depending on the amount of shot 18 used in the shot shell as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Thus the plastic foam material makes it possible to fabricate a wad 36 which is universal in its application.

Prior to loading the shot shell 10, the shell protector sleeve and wad units 16 are assembled and then inserted as a unit into the casing 12 of the shot shell 10. First then in the loading of the shot shell 10 the powder 14 is inserted into the casing 12 and the shot protector sleeve and wad unit 16 then inserted thereagainst with the powder 14 moving into the chamber 30 of the sleeve 28. Next the shot 18 is deposited into the chamber 32 onto the cardboard disc element 50. Next, force is applied to the shot 18 to compress it into the casing 12 such that the end of the casing 12 may be crimped inwardly as illustrated at 70. Again it is noted that the expanded wad material 36 is self-compensating and compresses however much is necessary to give the desired length for the amount of shot 18 used.

When the shot shell is fired, the powder 14 explodes and concentrates its forces against the inner side walls of the chamber 30 and expands the sleeve 28 such that the annular groove 40 expands forcing the shoulder 41 outwardly against the inner surface of the shell casing 12 and thus presents a seal which prevents the escape of gases from the powder chamber 30. The shot protector sleeve 28 and the shot 18 remain substantially intact until a short distance from the end of the gun barrel thereby controlling the concentration of the shot 18 and thus its velocity and pattern. Moreover, it is apparent that there is no need for using different iwads for different loading operations or on the other hand several wads as a single wad of expanded foam 36 cut from a piece of stock material, expanded foam plastic material, will be suitable for all loading situations. Also it is to be appreciated that by use of an all plastic wad unit 16, excepting the cardboard disc 50, the weight of the wad unit is substantially lower and consequently carries less recoil and gives greater shot velocity.

An alternate embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 7-11 and is referred to generally by the reference numeral 100. It includes the outer shell casing 12 and a primer 20 in a metal base cup 22. Also, an internal support element 24 is provided which seats against the inner surface of the metal cup 22 and embraces the primer 20. An annular sealing ring 26 is seated aaginst the top surface of the support element 24 and the powder 14 is positioned against the inner surface of the primer 20, the support element 24 and the sealing ring 26 as seen in FIG. 8. This structure corresponds to the structure in FIG. 3.

A shot protector sleeve unit 102 has a transversely extending separation wall 104 with oppositely extending sleeve portions 106 and 108. The sleeve portion 106 is provided on its exterior with longitudinally extending ribs and grooves 110 and 112 respectively to reduce the friction in the gun barrel and thereby increase the shot velocity while decreasing breech pressures. Also, the sidewall of the sleeve portion 106 is provided with uniformly spaced apart longitudinal serrations 114 extending three quarters the full length of the sleeve portion 106 from the outer open end thereof.

An annular gas sealing groove 116 is provided at the inner end of the sleeve portion 106 adjacent the end wall 104.

The oppositely extending sleeve portion 108 includes on its exterior an annular shoulder 118 which cooperates with a annular tapered surface 120 to form an annular groove 122 which also functions as a sealing groove for gases and is located adjacent the inner end of the sleeve portion 108.

The sleeve portion 108 has an inner side wall 124 which tapers diametrically inwardly and towards the transversely extending end Wall 104. The inner surface 124 terminates in an annular groove 126 which in turn merges with the adjacent surface of the end wall 104.

As seen in FIG. 9, a cylindrical length of expanded plastic wad material 130 is press-fitted into the sleeve portion 108 and the annular groove 126 serves to lock the connection between the wad and the sleeve portion. The properties of the expanded plastic material are such that they will compress when the wad is being inserted into the interior of the sleeve portion 108 and then expand to fill the annular groove 126.

In assembling the shot shell 100' it is seen that the powder 14 is first placed in the bottom or base end of the casing 12 and in a separate step the expanded plastic wad material 130 is inserted in the bottom sleeve portion 108 of the sleeve unit 102 and then the resulting unit as seen in FIG. 9 is inserted into the casing 12 against the powder 14. Next, the shot 18 is inserted into the casing and into the sleeve portion 106. In FIG. 7 a quantity of shot 132 is seen and in FIG. 8 a larger quantity of shot 134 is used in the same size shot shell casing 12. The difference between the units in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 is that the expanded plastic wad material 130' has been compressed substantially in length as seen by the wad 130A in FIG. 8. Accordingly, the sleeve unit 102 has moved inwardly in the shot shell casing 12 toward the base end. It is readily appreciated that any quantity of shot 132 or 134 for example could be used in the shot shell of this invention.

In FIG. 11 an alternate embodiment of the expanded plastic wad element is shown and referred to by the reference numeral and differs from the wad unit 130 by the fact that a disc 142 of relatively non compressible material is secured by adhesive 144 to the inner end of the wad 140 and is matingly locked into the annular groove 126 in the sleeve portion 108. It is apparent that a better mechanical lock is provided between the sleeve unit 102 and 140 by the use of the non compressible disc element 142 which thus minimizes inadvertent separation of the two components.

It is also noted that the powder material 14 may engage directly the outer end surface of the expanded plastic foam wad 130 and thus as seen in FIG. 8, one disc element has 5 been eliminated since the shot 132 seats against the bottom dividing wall 102.

It is stressed that by the use of the expanded plastic wad of this invention on either side of the sleeve wall 102 against the shot or against the powder the total length of the components before assembly will be substantially greater than the length of the components after being subjected to a compressive loading force since the expanded plastic will compress to give the effective length corresponding to the length of the shot shell casing. Hence, the expanded plastic wad has universal application in shot shell loading when used as hereinabove described.

I claim:

1. The method of loading a shot shell, comprising, placing a quantity of powder in the base of a shot shell casing, inserting an open end shot sleeve having an elongated wad of expanded plastic material disposed therein into said casing, inserting a cylindrical quantity of shot into said sleeve, the effective axial length of said quantity of said powder, sleeve, expanded plastic and shot being substantially greater than the effective axial length of the casing interior, applying a compressive 'force to said shot, compressing and permanently deforming said expanded plastic wad by said compressive force to a sufficient length for closing the open end of said shot shell casing onto said shot.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said elongated Wad of expanded plastic material is placed in said shot shell casing between said shot sleeve and said powder.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said elongated wad of expanded plastic material is placed in said shot shell casing between said shot sleeve and said shot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,099,958 8/1963 Daubenspeck et al. 10242 3,221,658 12/1965 'Devaux 10295 3,266,421 8/1966 Commerford 102-95 X 3,309,994 3/1967 Lage 10242 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,186,659 2/1959 France.

1,408,820 7/ 1965 France. 

